Getty Images (NYSE:GETY) reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $229.1 million, down 2.5% from a year earlier, as weakness in its agency and iStock businesses offset growth in its enterprise-focused Getty Images offerings, media coverage and corporate business.
Chief Executive Officer Craig Peters said the company’s results “are not where we wanted them to be,” citing the costs and opportunity costs associated with pursuing its proposed merger with Shutterstock, along with continued market pressures in agency and iStock e-commerce operations.
Merger Termination Shifts Focus to Liquidity and Debt
Getty Images terminated its proposed merger with Shutterstock after more than 18 months of work and more than $100 million in professional fees and financing costs, Peters said. He said the regulatory requirements, uncertainty and costs associated with completing the transaction were no longer in the company’s best interest.
The company is now pursuing a standalone operating plan centered on improving liquidity and reducing debt. In July, Getty Images hired Guggenheim Securities to explore strategic financing alternatives and balance-sheet management initiatives. Peters said he expects that process to continue through the third and fourth quarters, though the company has not established a timeline.
Getty Images ended the quarter with $51.6 million in cash, down $45 million sequentially. Total debt stood at $2.1 billion as of June 30. During the quarter, the company made a $30 million mandatory repayment on its 14% senior unsecured notes and a €6.3 million amortization payment on its euro term loan.
Following termination of the Shutterstock transaction, Getty Images used escrowed proceeds to redeem $628.4 million of 10.5% senior secured notes at par. The company also drew another $30 million on its revolving credit facility, bringing revolver borrowings to $150 million.
Because the financing review could affect its capital structure, liquidity and financial outlook, Getty Images said it would not provide earnings guidance at this time.
iStock and Agency Pressures Continue
Peters said the agency business continues to face secular headwinds, industry consolidation and a business model that incentivizes customers toward internal production, including AI-enabled production. Agency revenue declined 13% during the quarter.
At iStock, search-engine referral traffic continued to decline as search platforms implement AI-generated answers, weighing on new-customer acquisition and affiliate traffic. The broader microstock category also remains affected by generative AI, particularly among price-sensitive customers, according to Peters.
Getty Images plans to reorient iStock toward premium offerings, where it sees stronger customer lifetime value, and to reduce marketing spending in channels that do not meet its required payback period. Peters said those measures would adversely affect some business key performance indicators through 2026 and into 2027.
Annual subscription revenue represented 58.8% of total revenue, up from 53.5% a year earlier, and increased 7.1%, or 5.6% on a currency-neutral basis. Premium Access accounted for more than 40% of quarterly revenue and grew 5.5%.
However, the annual subscription revenue retention rate fell to 88.4% from 93.4% in the comparable 2025 period. Chief Financial Officer Jen Leyden attributed the decline to the planned exit from iStock’s free-trial acquisition program, renewal timing among a small number of large Premium Access customers, and the absence of certain nonrecurring spending from the prior-year period.
Active annual subscribers declined to 240,000 from 321,000, reflecting the exit from lower-value acquisition channels and search-related traffic headwinds. Leyden said revenue retention remained in the mid-90% range for Getty Images and Unsplash+, while Premium Access subscriber retention was nearly 100%.
Editorial Growth Offsets Some Creative Weakness
Creative revenue fell 2.6% to $127.4 million, while editorial revenue rose 9.2% to $96.5 million. A shift in download consumption within Premium Access subscriptions from creative to editorial affected both categories, reducing creative growth by roughly 380 basis points and adding approximately 550 basis points to editorial growth.
Getty Images said editorial demand was supported by its coverage of the FIFA World Cup, global news events, archive content, broadcast and production customers, and the broader news cycle. Custom content solutions grew more than 350%, while Unsplash+ subscriptions increased more than 15% year over year.
Geographically, currency-neutral revenue increased 1.4% in the Americas but declined 7.6% in EMEA and 22.1% in APAC. The APAC decline primarily reflected nonrecurring project spending in the prior year and agency weakness.
Profitability and Cash Flow
Adjusted EBITDA declined 8.4% to $62.3 million, while adjusted EBITDA margin narrowed to 27.2% from 28.9%. Leyden said lower revenue and higher cost of revenue more than offset lower selling, general and administrative expenses.
Free cash flow was negative $122.6 million, compared with negative $9.6 million a year earlier. The result included a $110.9 million payment, including interest, related to the Alta and CRCM warrant litigation judgment. Getty Images received $31.5 million of related insurance proceeds during the quarter.
Free cash flow also included $80.4 million in cash interest payments, including $37.4 million tied to financing for the proposed Shutterstock merger. After adjusting for litigation impacts, merger-related financing interest and merger expenses, the company said free cash flow would have been negative $4.5 million.
Peters said Getty Images will continue investing in tools and partnerships that support authenticated, rights-cleared visual content, including source-verification protocols, AI-enabled customer tools, natural-language search and new subscription offerings for individual creators.
About Getty Images (NYSE:GETY)
Getty Images (NYSE: GETY) is a leading global provider of digital visual content, offering an extensive library of stock photography, editorial imagery, video footage and music. The company supplies creative and rights-managed assets to a broad range of industries, including advertising, media, corporate communications and publishing. Through its online platform and licensing services, Getty Images enables customers to search, license and download multimedia content for commercial and editorial use.
Founded in 1995 by Mark Getty and Jonathan Klein, Getty Images pioneered the aggregation of photographic archives into a centralized, digital marketplace.
